


Strength Is…

by GayChaton



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Gen, Ignored Safeword, Intervention, Mental Anguish, Minor Violence, Riddles, The Stolen Century
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-15 23:12:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11816178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayChaton/pseuds/GayChaton
Summary: Some days, Magnus felt boiling angry. Other days, Magnus felt too tired to feel anything but aching.But most days, Magnus just wanted to win for once.





	Strength Is…

"Before we get started, I'm gonna warn you. I have no intention of easing up on you."

"Right back at you, big guy," Magnus grinned, pointing finger guns at the Royal Beast in front of him.

The Kodiak Bear sighed heavily. "If at any point you require aid, just shout for Chimpanzee, got it?"

Magnus' gaze drifted to the edge of the open pavilion. The black furred chimpanzee was leaning against a wooden log that held the roof up, safely out of the warm rainstorm. "Like, a safeword, or…?"

The Chimpanzee laughed boisterously at that, making Magnus grin. The Bear sighed again.

"Our safeword is 'chimpanzee'," Magnus joked in a hushed tone to the Chimpanzee. Chimpanzee winked slyly at Magnus winked right back, giggling all the while.

The Bear stepped in between the line of sight Magnus had with Chimpanzee. "Alright, let's start here. You said you wanted to get stronger, right?"

Magnus swallowed his excitement. "Yes."

"What do you think strength _is_ , Magnus?"

After a moment, Magnus took the opportunity for the sake of comedy, and flexed his brawny arms.

Both animals laughed at that, and perhaps at Magnus rather than with him. The Bear chuckled, "You think that… being _physically_ more powerful is, is strength?"

"N—"

"Is that what you think, Magnus?"

"No, literally I think that flexing is strength."

The Bear's face fell, and he shook his head, almost scolding. Then, he was on his paws and charging Magnus.

Within a second, it was over, and Magnus was scooting back with force and a sore chest and jaw from where he'd just been head butted with force Magnus had no hope of stopping. But when he looked up, The Bear looked as if he'd never expended any effort on it at all.

"Physical strength is nothing, Magnus," The Bear said with no light tone or room for disagreement. "I'm more powerful than you: the… rhino is more powerful than me, the whale is more powerful than the rhino, the ocean is more powerful than the whale— there's always something more powerful than you, Magnus. That is incorrect."

 

-:-

 

Magnus hated the question.

At this point, hearing the word "strength" in any variation or context flared his temper.

He could see his crewmates trying to help him get through it, trying to help him, but he hated his own inability to figure it out alone. He wasn't smart like Barry or Lucretia, and he wasn't witty like Lup or Taako, and he wasn't wise like Davenport or Merle.

Magnus laughed bitterly in his bed as a new thought occurred to him. Probably any of his friends could probably figure this out. He was just the dumb kid, the youngest one, the "strongest" one.

Back Home, when they'd been studying at the IPRE, he'd been learning tactical defense and security. He thought he knew whats strength was. He thought he could embody it. They'd stuffed him full of knowledge of what other planar entities might be like in combat, and where physical strength would be the best solution versus letting someone else take on a magical attack.

But now, the solution was apparently obvious to the Bear and Chimpanzee, but not to Magnus.

 

-:-

 

His thirty-th try, Magnus began to feel the scope of the question. It was only his second day, and he was scrambling in his mind to look for a better answer.

The Bear said, "I'm sorry, but that is not strength. You are incorrect."

Magnus grit his teeth, nursing his wounds and scowling when the Chimpanzee did a better job at it. He went to sleep tired, aching, and frustrated.

 

-:-

 

He missed ice cream a lot.

He tried to hang out with his crew when he could; most of them had come back converged again at the Starblaster at this point. They lived there as if it was just a house, and Magnus could not be more grateful.

As he shared his experiences over the dinner table with them, he wished he could eat dessert and feel like a kid, but gushing about his day. "So he showed me how to grapple with huge things, and then he showed me how to get up from being thrown to the ground, and then he said we could have a break and I sat by Chimpanzee and told them about ice cream and I think they didn't get it. They don't get a lot of English actually, you guys have noticed that right?"

"Yeah dude, for sure," Taako shrugged, poking at the food still on his plate.

"What do you mean by getting English? They make a translated sound, I know they can't pronounce English, but what do you mean?" Barry asked.

Magnus grinned. "So like my name? Like the bear doesn't say 'Magnus'. That would be silly. The translation for that sounds like ' _ah-uf_ '. I think if we tried translating back into English from that, it would be ' _Agnuf_ '."

"Magnus, do your best impression of him saying your name," Lup demanded.

Magnus set his hands down hard on the table, pulled his shoulders up to be hunched but with a craning neck, and said, " _Ahh'uf_."

"Oh…" Lup crowed. "That translates to like, 'Happy Cub' when you say it that way."

With a shrug, Magnus grinned back at her. "I only learned the language for him anyway."

"It's paying off, we can see," Barry praised.

Magnus absolutely beamed.

 

-:-

 

"What is strength, Magnus?"

"Strength is ability to use your own power."

The Bear charged him, head first. Magnus braced and tried to catch the head, to stop it in its tracks, but he only succeeded in jarring his wrists before he landed on his ass. Soon after, a heavy paw crushed down on his chest, pinning him.

Magnus felt pain radiating from his wrists in waves. He hissed through his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to cry. He could do better, he wasn't going to cry in front of a fucking bear.

"You could have strength, Magnus. But does this look like using your power?"

Magnus clenched his teeth. "I'm using the power I have!"

The Bear scoffed, and lifted his paw. He turned and ambled towards the exit of the arena. "The power you have is finite. There is only so much power any fighter's body will allow them to have. Insisting that you are powerful will not give you strength. You are incorrect. Go rest, Magnus. You can try again another day."

Magnus lay there, unable to use his hands to lift himself to stand up.

Eventually the Chimpanzee stepped near, a few feet away. It reached for Magnus's arm, but Magnus yanked his hands to his chest and jolted up to sit, glaring at the animal.

"Get lost! I'm fine, you dumb thing!"

The Chimpanzee looked unimpressed. He left the structure the same way The Bear did, leaving Magnus free to sob over his injured hands sitting in the dirt.

He was lucky they were only sprained.

 

-:-

 

"What happened to yer hand?" Merle asked, eyes widening behind his glasses.

Magnus glanced down at his wrists, wrapped in ace bandages. He'd forgotten about it, actually. The Bear had him running laps instead of fighting while the wrists healed up enough to go at it again, so Magnus was more concerned about his legs.

Merle poked his wrist, and Magnus reeled back, focusing back on the present.

"Stop it, you jerk. Just twisted them the wrong way doing some training stuff."

"You been usin' them since?"

"No," Magnus chuckled. "The Bear just has me running in circles instead."

Merle laughed hardily and walked off.

Magnus clenched his fists, wondering how many times he'd have a setback like this before he got the right answer.

 

-:-

 

It was raining.

"Again! What is strength?"

"Winning!"

Magnus got the wind knocked out of him as a paw backhanded him a few feet backwards.

He slowed his motion by digging his heels into the mud, but he wheezed to regain his breath. A few ragged and deep breaths later, The Bear was centered in front of him, looking menacing despite the matted fur from rainfall.

The Bear didn't give him much time; he never did when Magnus hadn't been hurt badly enough to stop him from standing. It was something Magnus appreciated, that he kept the dignity of respect. "What is strength?"

"C…" Magnus set a hand on his stomach, breathing hard for another second. "Continuing on."

The answer was not sufficient. A paw came from the sky, momentarily blocking the rain, but quickly knocking Magnus down face-first into the mud.

Magnus quickly propped himself up by his elbows. No matter how sore he was, this was practice and it would not do to drown in mud.

"You're done for today," the Bear rumbled, turning.

At that, Magnus scrambled to lift himself to his knees. " _No_! S– strength is refusing to give up!"

There seemed to be a brief moment of deliberation where the Bear stood still.

Magnus waited, gasping for air his lungs demanded as cold raindrops connected with his skin.

"Magnus, I'd knock you down again, but you've been in the mud enough for one day. If you keep getting up after losing a fight, Magnus, all you're doing is giving an otherwise honorable opponent a higher chance of killing you. It's important you know that what you're doing isn't making me impressed." The Bear left.

Magnus was still reeling, trying to control his despair and pain.

 

-:-

 

Magnus returned that day in a tunic and sweatpants stained with mud so badly, Davenport said he wasn't even going to try to wash them out.

Lucretia and Lup were standing in the kitchenette as Magnus walked by in his boxers.

Lup whistled lowly as he passed. " _Damn_ Maggie, you've been holding out on us. Who knew you were packing heat down there?"

Lucretia coughed uncomfortably, and Magnus' face flushed red. "I—first off, no, Lup, please," Magnus begged."

With a grin, Lup just asked "what?"

Magnus turned to Lucretia, stomach dropping. Lucretia was the closest in age to him, she was only a few years older than him (mid-20s to his 22), so it wouldn't be unreasonable for her to think he was trying to court her through gross means. He didn't want Lucretia to feel uncomfortable, he _needed to say something—_ "It's not like that, we're coworkers, it's—I'm not trying to be a _creep_ — and I— I know you're the only girls onboard but this is purely coincidental—"

"Magnus, what happened? Were you playing strip poker with Taako _again_?" Lup asked with a snicker.

At that, Magnus rolled his eyes and felt his blush dying out. "Hardee-har. My clothes were muddy and Cap'n'port told me to throw them out so he wouldn't have to wash them."

Lup laughed hard at that.

With a sigh, Magnus placed the counter between Lucretia and himself for space and modesty. "I'm sorry this happened, Lucretia, I'm not trying to come on to you, you'e a very good friend to me and I'm sorry this is so awkward."

When he finally looked up, Lucretia was covering her mouth to cover her grin.

His jaw dropped. "I thought you were _mortified_! I—"

"She played you good!" Lup cackled.

Magnus grinned and stomped down the halls.

Best coworkers ever.

 

-:-

 

He tried to talk to his crew for help, and one by one he went through what they thought.

They'd offered distractions and encouragements of seeking other training, but he was determined. He'd never seen any being so powerful, and he needed to learn as much as he could. So, while refusing their off-topic suggestions, he asked them the question he'd heard daily for about two months. And then, he tried them.

"Alright, Magnus, let's start the morning off right. What is strength?"

"Being able to destroy when you need to!"

Magnus met a sucker punch to the stomach, not quite surprised that Lup's ideals which matched his own most often were not shared by The Bear.

"What is strength?"

"Doing what you have to to survive!"

A shove sent Magnus stumbling in the dirt. So much for Taako's definition.

"What is strength, Magnus?"

"Sparing loved ones from burdens I hold."

The caring, sappy words he'd heard from Barry did him little good as he got a light scrape on his cheek from a tumble.

"Come on, what is strength?

"Living with your mistakes and moving on?"

Merle's ideals didn't keep him from falling to his knees when The Bear put pressure on him from above.

"What is strength? Magnus? What is strength?"

"Facing your own problems!"

The pressure actually lessened some. The Bear paused. "… in what way?"

Magnus reeled, he'd never gotten a followup question. He thought back to when he'd visited Lucretia and asked her opinion. "By taking on the everyday battles you face, by challenging what normally holds you back!"

"Incorrect, Magnus."

The pressure disappeared from above, but he was knocked backwards just as quickly.

"What. Is. Strength?"

Magnus scrambled backwards on his elbows. He thought of Cap'n'port, and the way he looked so conflicted sharing with Magnus. "Taking responsibility when things go wrong."

" **No**!"

The fighter saw stars as his body was flung a few feet to the right, landing with a thud.

"Magnus, you'll never be able to see the truth if your scope narrows like this."

With a choked out whimper, Magnus nodded rapidly while ignoring the pounding headache he felt.

"We're done today. Make sure you heal up before you come back."

 

-:-

 

"Magnus, maybe it's time you take a break from training," Davenport said, stepping in front of Magnus.

A very strong voice in Magnus' head told him to shove his captain out of the way so he could get to his room, but he caught himself as he lifted his arm to do so. Instead, he rubbed his calloused hands over his face repeatedly. "I can't."

"You can. We know The Bear; he'll give you time off if you ask for it," Davenport said. He set a hand on Magnus' huge forearm. It looked almost comically small.  "There's nothing wrong with refocusing."

"I have to do this," Magnus growled, furrowing his brows and sliding around Davenport.

 

-:-

 

"What is strength?"

"Power, just— power!"

Incorrect.

Magnus felt boiling angry some days.

"What is strength?"

"Sparing others from the weight of your problems."

Incorrect.

Other days, Magnus was too tired to feel anything but aching.

"What is strength?"

"Courage to share."

"Share what?"

"Your opinion, your _feelings_!"

Incorrect.

But most of the time, Magnus wanted to win for once.

 

-:-

 

"Dude, you look awful as hell," Taako remarked from the couch, where his legs were jumbled and locked with Lup's.

"For real though, homie, you look bad," Lup added. "Is that Bear fucking you up every day?"

"We fight, yeah," Magnus shrugged. He was sitting with his legs under the coffee table because no other seats were taken and it was weekly team-family time.

" _Every_ damn day?" Merle balked. "I don't think there's many things that happen to any of us _every day_."

"Well, routinely anyway," Davenport said.

"Maggie, listen man," Taako said. "Tell Taako the truth to this one thing, okay? It's me, you can tell me. How are you feeling?"

Magnus slumped forward against the coffee table, resting his head just above the cup of tea of his. "I'm so fucking dumb."

"Sweetie, no…" Lup muttered.

"I am," Magnus hissed, yanking his head back up. "It's just one riddle! Lucretia could knock this out in like, two days if it was her being asked."

"I'm not sure that's true, if the punishment for bein' wrong is gettin' knocked on your ass," Merle said.

"About that," Davenport said. "Are we sure this is the best way to go about improving, Magnus?"

Magnus stood abruptly, drawing rapt attention from the present IRPE explorers. "I've learned more about fighting and grappling while being the weaker party in this past half a year than I ever did in my _whole life_ until now. I need this. How could I be your protector if can't even tell you what strength is…?"

So he walked away to head to bed and think.

 

-:-

 

Magnus was sprawled out across the ground, collecting his breath while staying down. He just needed half a second. Before he could push himself up, a tension lifted him up by the back of his shirt, and he flashed a brief tired smile at The Bear while dusting off his side. Further away, Chimpanzee was still laughing annoyingly at the last failed attempt.

"Let's try again, Magnus," The Bear said, patient as ever. "What do you think strength is?"

"Strength is…" Magnus groaned, tired of being wrong time and time again. "Being _stronger_ than your opponent. Strength is being strong enough."

The Bear regarded him. "Strong enough to do what?"

"Win, survive, I- _I don't know_!" Magnus could see it coming when a shove threw him back to the ground, just barely enough to knock the wind out of him again.

"You're telling me what it is to be strong; that's not what strength is! Why do you want to be strong, Magnus?"

Magnus got to his knees and turned back to the bear, wiping his cheek. "So I don't have to lose _anyone_."

"You wanna protect your friends, is that right?"

"They're not strong enough. I _have_ to be," Magnus grunted, scowling. And he felt it. He had to be, he had to improve, he had to be able to fight and win and _save them—_

Magnus' guard raised when he saw The Bear smirk. And then it turned…

His stomach dropped as The Bear strode towards Chimpanzee.

He scrambled to his feet and into a lopsided sprint and leap. His fists balled in the silky fur of The Kodiak Bear, but the Royal Beast only paused a second to hook his claws into Magnus' shirt and throw him off and helplessly to the ground.

Magnus scrabbled once again to stand and move and go, but he could see the clawed paw of The Bear and he shook with betrayal and distrust and disgust as he realized he couldn't stop this massacre at all.

The claw didn't touch a hair in Chimpanzee's head. Eventually, The Bear turned to Magnus, claws still hovering above Chimpanzee. Magnus was shaking with adrenaline and relief and whiplash, but he could catch the words The Bear said to him. "You need strength to protect someone, that's right Magnus. But the desire to protect is not strength itself. You're incorrect again."

 

-:-

 

Magnus passed out during crew meet-up night, head slumped in his hands over the coffee table.

Taako and Lup gazed down at him.

"How old is he?" Taako asked.

"Twenty-two."

"Did we ever get out of him how he joined the IPRE so young?"

Lup shrugged. "Guess not."

The others had gone off to bed, none wanting to try carrying Magnus, and none wanting to wake him up either.

"He doesn't sleep enough," Lup said, frowning deeply.

"He's a strong kid."

"Taako, what if he gets pushed too far doing this?" Lup asked. "What if that Bear kills him doing this?"

Taako connected eyes with her and quickly shifted his gaze back to Magnus. "Lulu, what if he doesn't get pushed far enough?"

"What?! What're you _talking_ about?"

"Well," Taako drawled, crossing his arms. "We've only known the guy for two years or so. He's rowdy, and he's aggressive, and he wants to fight everything that looks slightly evil and looks at any of us wrong. Lup, if he saw us from when we were older teens, he probably would have fought us."

Lup swallowed. "Maybe he passes judgement without thinking sometimes, but he tries to help good people."

"Lup, we weren't _your typical good people_ ," Taako nudged. "That's what I'm saying. His heart's in it, but he's an idiot and some day, he's gonna rush in and push everything too far if someone doesn't teach him that he can't win all the time."

In the silence after, Lup grabbed for Taako's hand and rubbed her fingers over his knuckles. "You have a point."

Magnus wiggled his toes, and decided to wait a few more minutes before pretending to wake up.

 

-:-

 

"What is strength?"

Magnus held his tongue, trying to search his mind. Nothing he said about what he believed strength was had worked, maybe it was time to find a middle ground. What did The Bear want him to learn?

"Magnus?" The Bear looked concerned. Though they hadn't started today, The Bear looked about ready to call it for the day.

A jolt ran through Magnus; he needed to speed up if he was going to cover any ground. Maybe The Bear wanted a definition unrelated to physical power. "Strength is… what an individual is best at."

The Kodiak Bear sighed. He looked somber. "Magnus, I'm so glad you're still trying, and I'm very proud of your progress."

Magnus felt his eyes grow blurry with angry tears. "I can't get it! I'm sorry, I'm so stupid."

"Magnus—"

"I'm not _strong_ , I _know_!"

"Magnus, calm down."

Magnus grit his teeth and took some heavy breaths. "My friends think you're hurting me because I'm saying the wrong answer. They're wrong! We're just sparring, and, and you're teaching me, and I'm getting better but I'm not good enough."

"Magnus."

He looked up at The Bear.

"You're doing fine. You're going much faster than most of the cubs I've trained."

Magnus chuckled, and wiped at his face. "I'm sorry, I know this isn't really strong of me, crying in front of you—"

"You'd be wrong. Crying has nothing to do with strength. You're getting so close to the answer I truly believe, Magnus, every day."

 

-:-

 

Magnus took his morning shower and threw on socks, sweats, and his red jacket before heading out.

Or at least he was going to, before he walked to the bay of The Starblaster and stopped in his tracks because Barry stood in the middle of the exit.

"What're you doing?" Magnus asked, confused but monotone.

"You need to take some time off, Magnus. We told The Bear we were going to give you a day to relax."

Magnus bristled, pushing his chest out and walking over to tower over Barry. "Why? That's not your decision to make."

Barry looked worried, but didn't show any signs of regret. "I'm sorry, but, this training isn't— it's not _healthy_ for you to keep up."

"That's my decision." Magnus turned away from Barry and tried to slide past him.

"Guys?!"

Magnus jerked to a stop. He looked down. The air around his foot had been changed in an instant, and there was a heavy lead ball chained to his leg. He looked up, and Taako retracted his wand to let it rest by his side.

In a lineup beside the loading bay was Taako, Lup, Lucretia, and Davenport.

Magnus scowled. "You better uncast this right now, Taako."

Taako's ears flicked back, and he shot back a sneering face. Nobody said anything.

In a flash of movement, Magnus swiveled and stepped on the lead ball with his free foot and yanked his other leg up as swiftly as he could. The chain resisted for all of a second before snapping.

A weight tackled him back, and he landed on his back with a thump before throwing the weight off of him. It thudded to the ground a few feet away.

His jacket fell off somewhere along the way, but it wasn't going to slow him down. Magnus flipped to get up, ready to fight, but stopped in his tracks seeing Barry on the ground next to him.

Then, a hot electric pain against his shoulder.

" _Taako!_ " Lup exclaimed, ready to scold her twin, but Magnus was already on his feet again.

"Let me leave," Magnus growled.

"So help me, I _will_ burn my spell slots on you," Taako hissed back, raising his wand.

Magnus rolled his shoulders. "Go ahead and try."

Another flash of electricity hit Magnus, this time from Lup. It must have been magical, because Magnus was painlessly paralyzed in place.

Lucretia stepped forward from the line and in front of Magnus. "Magnus… we agreed together that you need some time off to clear your head. You've been throwing yourself into this little riddle, and I'll admit you're correct when you say you've never been hurt with anything worse than a sprain, but the pursuit of power can wait if it means taking time for yourself as well."

Were he not paralyzed in every outward physical function, Magnus would have cut her off long ago. But stuck in place, he had to wait it out. Behind him, Barry pulled himself up and dusted himself off.

"She's telling the truth. We care about you, M-Magnus, and I know you don't mean to hurt us, but you're getting reckless," Barry added.

"Mango," Taako said. "We're not fucking around."

"Guys, this spell won't hold forever," Lup warned.

Magnus took that as a cue to attempt to resist the spell. He jerked his elbows back, and the paralyzation shattered. His crew around him took a step back.

He turned in a slow circle, watching how fearfully they were acting now that he was free to move. He looked down at his hands. Together, all of them could hold him at gunpoint and force him to stay inside for a few days, but instead they'd combined efforts to talk to him, even when he'd refused. And now, they were _scared_ he'd react with violence.

Magnus looked up and met Barry's eyes. "I'm real sorry I tossed you," he said softly before walking back up the loading ramp and into the small common room to collapse on the couch.

 

-:-

 

Magnus sprinted forward, running towards The Bear. Still, a paw swatted him to the ground with a sheer force Magnus hadn't even felt from The Bear so far. As he landed on his stomach on the dirt, Magnus guessed it could have been worse had the pressure not been distributed across his side.

When he took in a breath to push himself up, a crushing weight pressed against his back, and Magnus thought his ribs were about to collapse in on themselves. He wheezed, clawing at the dirt around him for some kind of hold. 

But then, must have been a disconnect in his body, because he heard the pop of his shoulder being dislocated a good three seconds before the pain hit him and stunned his brain capacity.

When the stars faded from vision, Magnus tried to listen and get his bearings again.

"—nus! What is _strength_?!" The Bear yelled. "What is the first thing I told you when you came in here?"

Magnus's mouth made a shaky noise of pain as he tried to get his vocal cords to work for him. He grit his teeth, and bit the bullet to answer the second question. "Ask for help."

It wasn't good enough, he supposed, because the weight on his back increased tenfold. From somewhere in his body, there was a sickening sound before pain blinded him again. He thought it wouldn't get worse, only to find he was so so wrong. When his senses returned to his control, The Bear was growling next to his ear.

Magnus got the message loud and clear.

This was a fight he couldn't win if he kept at it like this.

" _Chimpanzee_."

Magnus felt like the world was set to move too fast for him to catch up, because in a whir of motion, the Chimpanzee had somehow moved over to him and he was standing and he got no time to prepare before his shoulder was set back in place. He wheezed in pain, but instantly it felt better. For a second, he let himself breathe and get his pain under control.

Then he looked at his mentor.

The Kodiak Bear was stretching, grunting, smiling as he waited for Chimpanzee to finish fixing Magnus up. "Strength is…"

Magnus waited. He'd tried so hard to figure it out on his own, and now he'd gotten close enough that all the effort he'd put in to this simple question was about to pay off. His eyes were locked onto The Bear and the pain in his body faded into the back of his mind.

"A tool, Magnus. It's a commodity. You can spend it and spend it, but everyone's got some, and lots of folks are gonna have more than you. But if you ask for it, Magnus, other folks' strength can become your own. That… is what strength is, Magnus. Who gives you strength? How willing are you to ask for it? Pride and glory are the enemies of true strength, Magnus."

Magnus wheezed out a breath, remembering the months where he insisted that he could do everything alone. How stupid had he really been? How must he have looked to this warrior?

A gentle weight set down on Magnus' good shoulder, and he looked up. The Bear had a paw holding his shoulder. "In every warrior's life, there comes a moment where they are overpowered by a superior fighter…" The bear lifted his paw from Magnus and instead used it to drag the Chimpanzee close to his side. "But you keep friends nearby, and you ask for help when you need it, Magnus, and you won't just be strong."

Magnus looked up, locking eyes with his teacher. He grinned, nodded, and The Bear smiled.

"You'll be unbeatable."

And he was.


End file.
